John Wesley’s Holistic Healing and Contemporary Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Toward a Differentiated Integration
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24217986 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Eun Young Hwang (0000-0003-1997-1352, Paideia College, Sungkyul University, Anyang 14097, Republic of Korea) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 10 |
| Pages | 1162 |
| Publication date | 2026-10-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Religions (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/rel17101162 |
| OpenAlex | W7220396553 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 19 |
This study argues that contemporary CBT/RCBT and John Wesley’s theology of holistic healing reveal significant structural analogies despite their fundamental differences in agency, practices, and the goal of healing. This study first examines how each tradition understands the possibility and process of human change, as it compares CBT/RCBT’s views of therapeutic learning, cognitive reorientation, core-belief transformation, and individualized development with Wesley’s ideas of prevenient grace, repentance, faith and new birth, and sanctification. It then turns to the behavioral and relational practices for achieving transformation, as it delves into the analogical relation between CBT/RCBT’s emphasis on behavioral experiments and therapeutic collaboration and Wesley’s concern for the means of grace and social holiness. Finally, it considers the goal and scope of healing, as it relates adaptive functioning and whole-person flourishing in CBT/RCBT to Wesley’s vision of restoration in the image of God, holy love, and happiness in God. In that respect, the study proposes a model of differentiated integration, which suggests that Wesley’s theology harmonizes with CBT/RCBT’s therapeutic approaches for their structural similarities despite their different visions of agency, practices, and the goal of healing.
anthropogenic change · behavioral experiments · Cognitive behavioral therapy · core beliefs · differentiated integration · Eudaimonia · Holistic medicine · John Wesley · means of grace · new birth · prevenient grace · Repentance · Sanctification · social holiness · therapeutic collaboration · Contemporary Christian Leadership and Education · Psychological Treatments and Assessments · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
The third wave of cognitive behavioral therapy and the rise of process‐based care
The Future of Intervention Science
Advances in Cognitive Theory and Therapy
Comparative efficacy of religious and nonreligious cognitive-behavioral therapy for the treatment of clinical depression in religious individuals.
A Comparison of Secular and Religious Versions of Cognitive Therapy with Depressed Christian College Students
A Wesleyan Spirituality
Theology for Better Counseling
John wesley on health as wholeness
Religion-Adapted Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
The Holistic Way
The limitation of human knowledge
John Wesley's Primitive Physick
Medicine and Moral Reform
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |